Faculty

CU Engineering welcomes prominent new faculty across disciplines

Caroline Harrah — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 18:16:45 +0000

CU Engineering welcomes prominent new faculty across disciplines Caroline Harrah Thu, 09/11/2025 - 12:16

51�Թ��’s College of Engineering and Applied Science welcomes a cohort of scholars whose work spans imaging and sustainable energy, resilient infrastructure and the cryosphere, advanced manufacturing and inclusive pedagogy, as well as artificial intelligence, robotics and high-performance computing.

Their appointments enhance the college’s research breadth and depth, while expanding opportunities for students across engineering disciplines. See full list below.

Electrical, Computer & Energy Engineering

Professor Al Bovik

We welcome Professor Al Bovik, a leader in image/video engineering and visual perception whose work has shaped how digital pictures are captured, processed and evaluated at scale.

He joins Assistant Professor Yide Zhang, whose lab develops optical and quantum imaging techniques, ranging from fluorescence lifetime to photoacoustic and ultrafast modalities, to observe biological structure and function in real time.

Two accomplished educators round out the group: Associate Teaching Professor Tina Smilkstein, with expertise in integrated circuit design and medical technologies, and Assistant Teaching Professor Erik Hodges, a radar remote-sensing specialist with experience on NASA’s CYGNSS Science Team who will also contribute to capstone instruction.

Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering

Assistant Professor Zhi Li integrates hydrology, AI and satellite remote sensing to advance flood prediction and communication, including work toward a global “flood foundation model” that translates forecasts into usable, community-specific guidance.

Assistant Professor Laura Sunberg studies environmental fluid mechanics with an emphasis on particle transport, including microplastics and wildfire firebrands and links fundamental transport processes to applications in coastal, watershed, and wildfire environments.

Paul M. Rady Mechanical Engineering

Five new faculty members broaden our mechanical engineering research and teaching portfolio. Assistant Professor Jun Li combines responsive biomaterials with advanced manufacturing to create wearable and implantable devices that promote health and sustainability. Assistant Professor Max Saccone develops additive and conversion-based pathways to fabricate microscale metals, ceramics and carbon with tunable structure–property relationships.

Three educators deepen the department’s student-centered mission: Assistant Teaching Professor Katherine Ramos (inclusive pedagogy, objectives-based grading), Assistant Teaching Professor Leila Saleh (biomaterials, immunology and ethics in engineering education), and Assistant Teaching Professor Kelsey Scalaro (engineering identity and longitudinal student success, informed by industry experience).

Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences

Associate Professor Alia Khan joins Smead Aerospace and 51�Թ��’s Environmental Engineering Program. Her research combines environmental chemistry with optical remote sensing, utilizing uncrewed aerial vehicles and satellites to quantify snow and ice melt across mountain and polar regions. Her portfolio includes NASA- and NSF-funded projects, including a 2021 NSF CAREER award on Antarctic snow darkening and a new NASA effort focused on Greenland’s dark ice zones.

Other faculty joining us in Fall 2025 include:

Eric Peterson, Scholar in Residence, Civil, Environmental & Architectural Engineering
Melissa Mahoney, Teaching Professor, Chemical and Biological Engineering
Chantal Iribigaza, Assistant Teaching Professor, Integrated Design Engineering Program
James Long, Assistant Teaching Professor, Biomedical Engineering Program
Amy Moore, Scholar in Residence, Engineering Management Program
Todd Mosher, Scholar in Residence, Engineering Management Program
Madhur Atreya, Assistant Teaching Professor, Integrated Design Engineering Program

Computer Science

We welcome five scholars whose work spans language, autonomy, scientific software, neurosymbolic AI and large-scale systems. Assistant Professor Maria Antoniak advances natural language processing, cultural analytics and health applications. Assistant Professor Alvaro Velasquez brings leadership experience from DARPA and research in neurosymbolic AI and autonomy. Assistant Professor Mark Zhao builds systems for training and deploying large ML models with emphasis on scalability, efficiency and security.

New research-focused faculty include Assistant Research Professor Saber Jafarpour, who studies learning and safe control for robotics and multi-agent cyber-physical systems, and Assistant Research Professor Jeremy Thompson, who develops open-source, high-performance scientific software (including Ratel and libCEED) to accelerate simulation at scale.

These appointments illustrate the scope and ambition of engineering at 51�Թ��. From the molecular to the planetary scale, and from pedagogy to practice, the incoming faculty bring methods and perspectives that not only extend existing research areas but also open new ones. Their presence broadens the problems the college can address, the tools it can apply and the ways students will learn to think as engineers and scientists.

CU Engineering is welcoming a new cohort of faculty whose research spans advanced imaging, sustainable energy systems, resilient infrastructure, robotics and more. Their appointments strengthen the college’s breadth in both research and teaching, while expanding opportunities for students across engineering disciplines.

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Mechanical engineering welcomes five new faculty members

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 09 Sep 2025 19:12:52 +0000

Mechanical engineering welcomes five new faculty members Alexander Jame… Tue, 09/09/2025 - 13:12

The Paul M. Rady Department of Mechanical Engineering at 51�Թ�� is welcoming five new faculty members this fall semester. From responsive biomaterials and unique teaching environments to additive manufacturing, these talented scientists and engineers bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to our teaching and research missions.

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Biomedical engineering welcomes three new faculty members

Alexander James Servantez — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 22:29:03 +0000

Biomedical engineering welcomes three new faculty members Alexander Jame… Mon, 09/08/2025 - 16:29

The Biomedical Engineering Program (BME) at 51�Թ�� is welcoming three new faculty members this fall semester. From responsive biomaterials and pedagogical research to quantum imaging, these talented scientists and engineers bring a wealth of knowledge and passion to our teaching and research missions.

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‘Cyborg jellyfish’ could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 20:36:07 +0000

‘Cyborg jellyfish’ could aid in deep-sea research, inspire next-gen underwater vehicles Alexander Jame… Wed, 08/20/2025 - 14:36

Assistant Professor Nicole Xu first became fascinated with moon jellyfish more than a decade ago because of their extraordinary swimming abilities. Today, Xu has developed a way to harness their efficiency and ease at moving through the water in ways that could make some types of aquatic research much easier.

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Researchers testing next-generation ankle braces for stroke survivors

Alexander James Servantez — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 21:10:47 +0000

Researchers testing next-generation ankle braces for stroke survivors Alexander Jame… Tue, 07/15/2025 - 15:10

Nearly 80% of all stroke survivors experience walking issues and turn to ankle braces for increased support, but ankle braces are still very limited and many stroke survivors report no improvements when using them. Assistant Professor Cara Welker is leading a new, collaborative research project that aims to transform the way these assistive devices are designed.

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New discovery could make a risky heart failure treatment safer

Alexander James Servantez — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 18:58:38 +0000

New discovery could make a risky heart failure treatment safer Alexander Jame… Thu, 06/12/2025 - 12:58

Left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) designed to improve blood flow throughout the body can aid nearly 26 million people globally struggling with heart failure. But these implantable devices come with risks. New research by Assistant Professor Debanjan Mukherjee suggests that studying patient blood flow patterns could help determine who’s at risk of dangerous side effects from LVADs and lead to improvements that could make them safer.

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Robots and chemistry isn’t just a fun combo. Bruns says it’s the future

Alexander James Servantez — Fri, 06 Jun 2025 22:30:26 +0000

Robots and chemistry isn’t just a fun combo. Bruns says it’s the future Alexander Jame… Fri, 06/06/2025 - 16:30

Assistant Professor Carson Bruns is leading the charge on an NSF-funded project that he and his team like to call "robochemistry." Their goal is to create robotic sidekicks that can assist chemists with burdensome or unsafe tasks that they may routinely encounter in a wet lab. But that's not all: this unique blend of bots and beakers can also inspire youth interest in science.

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Tiny robot team could be a gamechanger for safety inspections

Alexander James Servantez — Wed, 21 May 2025 20:01:24 +0000

Tiny robot team could be a gamechanger for safety inspections Alexander Jame… Wed, 05/21/2025 - 14:01

Assistant Professor Kaushik Jayaram, in collaboration with Laura Blumenschein, has received a $1.4 million grant from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a tiny robot super team capable of navigating a complex maze of machinery and squeeze through the tightest of spaces—like the guts of a jet engine—to potentially perform non-destructive evaluation faster, cheaper and better than ever before.

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Research & Innovation Office set to host virtual info session on Seed Grant Program in November

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Aug 2023 21:37:46 +0000

Research & Innovation Office set to host virtual info session on Seed Grant Program in November Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/14/2023 - 15:37

Designed to catalyze new areas of research, scholarship and creative work, the Seed Grant Program awards nearly $1 million annually to 51�Թ�� faculty across all disciplines. This event will be held at noon on Nov. 8 via Zoom.

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3D display could soon bring touch to the digital world

Anonymous — Mon, 31 Jul 2023 15:28:20 +0000

3D display could soon bring touch to the digital world Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/31/2023 - 09:28

The device at 51�Թ�� is made from a 10-by-10 grid of soft robotic “muscles” that can sense outside pressure and pop up to create patterns. It’s precise enough to generate scrolling text and fast enough to shake a chemistry beaker filled with fluid.

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